In an initial May 1 statement, the firm called the situation "unfortunate," adding that "when there's this type of transaction [with Facebook], people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims."

The VR makers today reiterated that Carmack did not take any intellectual property from ZeniMax, and "there is not a line" of ZeniMax code or technology in any Oculus products.

"ZeniMax did not pursue claims against Oculus for IP or technology, ZeniMax has never contributed any IP or technology to Oculus, and only after the Facebook deal was announced has ZeniMax now made these claims through its lawyers," an Oculus spokesman said.

The company added that, despite its Oculus SDK full source code being available online, ZeniMax has "never identified any 'stolen' code or technology."

According to Oculus, one of the main reasons Carmack left ZeniMax for Oculus VR was that "ZeniMax prevented John from working on VR, and stopped investing in VR games across the company." Later, "Zenimax canceled VR support for Doom 3 BFG when Oculus refused Zenimax's demands for a non-dilutable equity stake in Oculus."

No work I have ever done has been patented. Zenimax owns the code that I wrote, but they don't own VR.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this dispute actually dates back to 2012, when Oculus VR first solicited funds via Kickstarter in a campaign that eventually raised $2.4 million. Oculus and ZeniMax reportedly spent six months negotiating, but did not reach a resolution.

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.
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